Lowville school`s $11m capital project heading toward completion

8/25/2016
Watertown Daily Times | Lowville school’s $11m capital project heading toward completion
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By STEVE VIRKLER
SVIRKLER@LOWVILLE.COM
PUBLISHED: THURSDAY, AUGUST 25, 2016 AT 12:30 AM
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STEVE VIRKLER / JOHNSON NEWSPAPERS
Contractors on Tuesday work amongst heating, ventilation and air conditioning equipment that must still be
installed in Lowville Academy’s main gymnasium.
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LOWVILLE — Work on Lowville Academy and
Central School District’s $11 million capital
project is slated to continue into the winter.
However, with the exception of the auditorium,
the kindergarten-through-grade 12 building
should be all ready for use when students return
Sept. 6.
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8/25/2016
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Watertown Daily Times | Lowville school’s $11m capital project heading toward completion
“I’m being assured that we’ll be up and ready to
go,” District Superintendent Cheryl R. Steckly
said. “But there’s a lot of work to be
accomplished in the next few weeks.”
The largest piece of the project, which kicked o㾀
last summer, has been replacement of most of
the roofs in the wake of leaking issues a couple
years ago.
“In a facility this size, there’s always maintenance
and upkeep to do,” Mrs. Steckly said. “This
project is essentially maintenance.”
Roof work on the main school building should be completed over the next couple of weeks, but
reroo ng of the district o ce and bus garage will take place after the start of school, she said.
Other work this summer has included replacement of heating, ventilation and air conditioning
systems in several areas, a switch to LED lighting for energy e ciency, addition of large freezer
just outside the cafeteria, creation of a concession stand at the rear of the school near the
athletic elds and replacement of its emergency generator.
When the project is completed, the school for the rst time will have air conditioning in both its
auditorium and its main gymnasium, Mrs. Steckly said. The latter would be used mainly for large
events held in the gym, like grandparent’s day, special concerts and graduation ceremonies, not
for gym classes, she said.
Contractors have erected sca㾀olding throughout the auditorium to provide easy access to the
ceiling, and that room probably won’t be usable until nearly Christmas, Mrs. Steckley said. Plans
are to put up a “tunnel” that will allow workers to get into the auditorium through the school’s
front entrance without disrupting students or sta㾀, she said.
Once school resumes, the remainder of the building is to be in use, with contractors slated to do
remaining work after regular school hours, Mrs. Steckly said.
Unlike the school’s old generator, the new one will automatically kick in when power goes out
and should be able to provide enough electricity for all functions of the building, not just
necessities like lighting and heat, she said.
A power outage at the school is planned today to allow for the generator hook-up, with one
telephone line in the district o ce slated to be active to handle any incoming calls.
Due to cost, district o cials were not able to install LED lights throughout the building as initially
hoped, Mrs. Steckly said. However, with the state Education Department now allowing districts
to set aside up to $100,000 for state-aidable mini-projects, that may eventually be completed in
phases, she said.
“Over time, they will certainly pay for themselves,” Mrs. Steckly said.
Contractors are also working to redo the tennis courts, which were installed eight or nine years
ago during the district’s last capital project, she said.
O cials noticed a few years ago that the top coat of pavement was cracking, but core testing
didn’t turn up any de nitive reason for it, Mrs. Steckly said. The district decided to have the
courts resurfaced now, rather than risk them being deemed unusable in coming years, she said.
State aid is expected to cover 89.2 percent of project costs, while the local share is being covered
with $161,106 in leftover state Expanding Our Children’s Education and Learning aid and up to
$1.5 million from the district’s capital reserve fund.
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